The plot of writer-director Isaiah Saxon’s The Legend of Ochi may feel familiar—it’s a coming-of-age tale about a lonely tween who befriends a forbidden monster, very much in the vein of E.T. the Extraterrestrial—but it’s executed with such heartfelt creativity that’s easy to forgive. Focus on the world-building and you won’t mind that you’ve seen similar tales before; the monsters are played by stunningly expressive puppets, and the setting manages to balance natural beauty with a gritty realism that keeps both the story and its emotions feeling grounded.
That latter point is no small feat, considering the go-to production design for fantasy tales tends to involve a lot of gratuitous CG. There’s certainly some CG afoot in The Legend of Ochi, but it takes a back seat to real locations, mostly in Romania, to bring its forest-laden environs to the screen. On a small island that clings to old-world traditions—but hasn’t stopped the march of progress when it comes to things like cars and heavy metal—a girl named Yuri (Helena Zengel) tells us about the “ochi,” the much-feared creatures that live in the mountains near her village.
“They destroyed my family,” she explains, but it doesn’t take long for The Legend of Ochi to reveal that she means the ochi, in some way, caused her parents (Dad is Willem Dafoe, Mom is Emily Watson) to split up. Also in the mix is her adopted brother Petro, who’s played by Stranger Things‘ Finn Wolfhard—a fact that might make you expect him to play a much bigger role than he actually does.
Dafoe gets in some scenery-chewing as a man obsessed with hunting and killing all the ochi, but he’s not as vicious as that might imply. His “army” consists of local boys he’s drilled in fighting, and his biggest failing is that he’s so focused on destruction that he can’t see how miserable Yuri is. Nor can he comprehend the notion that humans and ochi might be capable of peacefully co-existing.
Yuri’s estranged mom has a more tolerant view of the creatures, despite having lost her hand after being bitten by one. And she has an impressively academic understanding of the ochi, particularly in regards to the trilling, singing vocalizations that make up their language. But like many stories of this type, the only point of view that really matters is Yuri’s, especially after she encounters an injured baby ochi that’s become separated from its family. Though she was raised by a father with a “shoot first” mentality, Yuri—who has a deep empathy for the natural world—knows what she must do: help the creature find its way home.
Though The Legend of Ochi reveals the ochi early on, it’s not until we spend time with the baby that we realize how special they are. That’s due in no small part to the puppet itself, which evokes not just a much cuter E.T. but also Gizmo from Gremlins. There’s an almost Studio Ghibli meets Wes Anderson vibe as the two new besties bond. Yuri calms the creature by popping in a pair of fake fangs that look not unlike its own very sharp teeth, leaves a note for her father with a cheeky P.S. (“I am strong and cool and don’t believe what you say about anything”), puts on her signature yellow parka, and hits the road with the region’s most feared monster riding in her backpack, Yoda-style.
There are moments of comedy along the way—of course Dafoe’s character has an entire set of armor to wear while he and his mini-militia chase after Yuri—but The Legend of Ochi is mostly concerned with the growing connection between Yuri and the creature. She’s its only protector in a world she understands firsthand can be cruel and unfeeling, and their journey becomes more about Yuri’s coming of age, giving her the strength to stand up to her father when that time inevitably comes.
But, again—even if you can see very clearly where The Legend of Ochi is leading you, the pleasure derived from getting there cannot be overstated. If by its end you don’t feel wonder and hope (and maybe shed a tear or two) over the film’s earnestly expressed lessons about understanding, compromise, and learning to live in harmony, you might need to adjust your own levels of cynicism. And if the baby ochi puppet doesn’t give you extreme cute aggression, you might want to check your pulse.
The Legend of Ochi opens wide Friday, April 25.
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